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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1923-07-05 Finance Committee Minutes Meeting April 24,1923. -eeting was called to order by the Secy. Albert R•Shepardson wa elected chairman for the ensuing year. llew members were sworn in. Members present Chairman Shepardson,Fairchild,Ellison,Carletor_, Sperry.Stewart,Parker, Currell. Leeting adjourned at 8.35. L.G.Bent,3ecy. WV Meeting July 5,1923. Meeting was called to hear the reports of the su�-committees on school buildings.Notice having been sent to the School ornmittee, Chairman,Walter S.Parker,IVIr."'illett and lar.Quimby were prevent and also Supt.A.L.Safford. Messrs. Stewart and Fairchild presented a written report on Center and Union Street buildings;Parker and Carleton on Hill End and Prospect Street and Devaney and Haley on Higl- School. Ivlessrs.Currell and Dennison made a verbal report of their find- ings on the Lowell Street and Highland buildings. The School Committee requested copies of the reports and the Secretary was instructed to furnish them with the same. A general discussion of the matters referred to in the reports was held and some recommendations for the immediate future were made. L.G.Bent, Sec 'y. Juno second, Kr. B. B. Ciirrell , Read ing. Dear Mr: sCj()OLjjjUjrrn� PATIIS, n, WE OF R%ADT,'iG * The Sixb-Committee on Repntrs to Sohoolhonsps Aas been increased by ttv -addition of Messrs. C-Urre.*11 an1"alrohil , - =fill yoij 1 Inaly Inepect the building or buildInge asrIgLed to you, preferably with tlem momber assigned, to -vrork -lith you, on or be- fore June 12th. It is my u.nAm.-zitanding W that tbn, oblect of this inspection is' to note whatov.lr repairs are necessary or desirable. 710 tL-s ond. the inspection aboiild be thororgh and Incl"dm the follow in=.: Exteriors tbrou-%haut, Inclullng roof. Interlora throupout, Including attics. Grounds, nln.ntln,!, Onte. General appearajjce of property, reference .to janitor service bele z rendered. Ass imments aro as folio wo - Hili EndJ. W. D. Parker Frospoet 'treet Lowell "it"et Ietr�,I sor; B. "urreli High School J. L. DOVrq'tney Union Street S. G. Steuart J. 4. Fairchild Cent ral AW REPORT OF S . G . STEWART and J. W. FAIRCHILD AS i',liEM3ERS OF SU3-COUvIITTEE Or REPAIRS TO SCHOOLHOUSES. CENTRAL SCHOOL Ir EXTERIOR Roofs - need patching, particularly on gable in rear and Basement entrance. 3ody - painting, trimmings one coat, rest two coats; ininore repbirs before - painting. An electric light over each entrance . Conductors need slight repairing . Outside door on west side needs repairing . INTERIOR Floors - Floors throughout are very good, need minor repairing . Walls - Aalls throughout need repairing and retinting, with exception of what is called the "Opportunity Room" . South west room needs imrediate attention . Ceilings - Ceilings thvoughbut need repairing . New, either steel or other construction might ae practicGl. Desks & Chairs - are in good condition . Toilets- Girls - walls should je thoroughly painted . Boys - thoroughly painted and better ven- tilated to take carE -of objectionable odors; this .;;e believe must be attended to before another school year commences . Also, there should be an electric light in the corridor to the boys ' toilet .-- Heating-the janitor told us that the boiler is not large enough to heat the entire building and has to use a forced draft to get any results at all. New or possibly a.ddition81 heating apparatus is recommended. Ventilation- is reported as not beim good. he were there out of school hourssowere not able to tell the condition when the building was fully occupied . It might be wise to have this matter looked into more thoroughl, . Attic- Dirty but no suggestions to make. The general appearance of the schoolrooms and corridors was good. The toilets need to be kept more sanitary . The basement needs to be thoroughly cleaned out with walls whitewashed and kept so. 'Ne believe the air coming from ttis basement as it is, is not healthy for children to breathe and would recommend that this be taken care of before another school year. GROUNDS The grounds are in a deplorable condition . They need resurfacing with good gravel where the childred play . Would suggest new walks, full length on easy, and west sides of building, to extend to curbing in front. Shrubbery and grass plot to be laid out in fron' of building be- tween walks, ibith possibly shrubs along east and fAjest side of building to entrances. Also a drain of some sort to take care of standing water 'between school and church grounds . This feature could be left to due judgment of a land- scape gardner. Possibly some erre.nge- ment could be made with Cemetery Depart- ment to erect a new fence in the rear bordering on cemetery . ` I We feel that an improvement in the grounds would be an asset to the town as this is one of the most conspicuous places places and also one of the landmarks of our town. UNION STREET SCHOOL EXTERIOR Roof. - in good condition except two places where it leaks. This needs a little study as an effot has been made to 4 stop it but so far without result. This is an urgent matter End needs careful attention . Body - two coats of paitt throughout. INTERIOR Floors- good throughout Walls and Ceilings - need. retinting throughout. Desks and Chairs - in good condition Toilets - both need ve,rnishing . Basement - should have more electric lights placed where necessary_ . rieeting apparatus O.K. - possibly need more radiators in southwest room to give proper neat . Ventilation - said to be not very good. The general appearance of the schoolrooms and corridors was good. That part of the basement used by the janitor needs cleaning and a coat of whitewash. GROUNDS The grounds need to be resurfaced with good gravel where the children play - otherwise the appearance is food . t ftre-Escape - in the rear of the building should pe enclosed as it is unsafe in winter weather. This should be attended to before another school year. Signed Q� G C ie' i REPORT OI' J. P. CARLET014 AND W. D. PARXER AS MEMBERS OF SUB-CO.FITTEE ON REPAIRS TO SCHOOL- HOUSES. b PROSPECT STREET SCHOOL Grounds : Remove present concrete work; considerable grading and re-surfacing necessary and new planting near the building. Body: Repairs needed on bulkhead; add doors at foot of stairs to bulkhead. Repair wall shingling. Protect corners with copper or other mate- rial : protect opening above coal windows in similar manner. Add gutters and conductors. Paint trim and stain wall shingles . Balustrade needs some new balusters. Fire escape needs new exterior door. Cellar screens to be renewed . Flag pole now goes up through on ridge and janitor says it is very difficult to re- place the rope which had to be done recently. Fill up old cesspool. .Jof: Repair roof. This can probably be done b patching. INTFRIOR Basement : Sanitaries : Particularly boys , in need of considerable at- tention. Ventilation in boys ' side particular- ly is very inadequate . Doors shoa.ld be cut do`Frn to provide better circulation, and one pair of doors re -oved or cut off to allcw light and cross draft from window on north side . Basement light outlets should have key sock- ets , and cages on all bulbs . Doors to sani- taries should be equipped with door checks. 4 s heating: There is no pipe covering and present cov- ering of boiler should be renewed. Point up around smoke pipe where it enters chimney. Return pi oe now located so that it comes under coal bin, and probably will rus out in a comparitively short time . Main supply is same size as those fit ina it from each boiler. Question whethe this should not be larger. Heater requires a new back, present b ck be- ing cracked. Ventilation: With the exception of the sanitaries, the ventilation is fairly satisfactory. First and Second Stories : General : Building inside seems to be in fairly good condition. A few cracks need to be p tched and some incidental wall painting. Janitor complains that the west side f the building is cold. Circulation and wall piping seems to e very sluggish. Possibly covering pipes and providing inner doors to bulkhead would 'help this to a cer- tain extent . The matter should be looked into by the heating engineer. i REPORT OF J. P. CARLFTOJti AidD, 1°V . D. PARKER AS t'LFR BERS OF SUB-CO1,21ITTEE ON REPAIRS TO SCHOOLHOUSES. °�. HILL EidD SCHOOL. EXT -�IOR : Grounds : Whole yard is in very bad condition. Sections of wall at side and rear need to be relaid and the whole thing pointed up; then a fence of some sort set on top of it. whole yard should then be smoothed of filled in and graded. �..r Body: New cellar doors needed and some pointing up to make basement watertight . Ten or twelve sash should be replaced by new sash. One coat of paint needed, and perhaps two throughout. New conductors needed Lith high cast iron lead- ers to drain into dry wells , which should be provided. 'Ventilation of this building is satisfactory. INTERIOR : General : Present drinking fountain should be removed and located in the entry. It would improve the schoolroom on the easterly side if large circular window were extended to floor. This buildino- has recently been repaired and painted inside and is in very --ood condition. July 3, 1923 . 4' Mr. Winthrop D. Parker, Reading, Mass . Pear Mr. Parker: As requested in your esteemed favor of June 2d , the writer , together with 11i . Haly and Idr . Quimby of the School Committee , visited the High School' and submit the f oll owing report: GRO UN D3 The grounds as a whole are in a fairly good fi condition except there should be some grading in the rear of the building : this will require some thought and study ti as the high school children must have some place for recreation, consequently any improvement must take this into consideration. EXTERIOR OF BUILDING The gutters on both ends and the rear are badly in need of repair and should be attended to at once as we consider the condition dangerous, and someone may be in- jured by a piece of the gutter falling and hurting them. INTERIOR The building should be thoroughly cleaned and the walls and ceilings should be whitened, all excepting one or two rooms which have been recently attended to. The floor in the main corridor should be repaired, and the stairway also needs new treads as we consider the condition dangerous as they are worn to eneb an extent that pupils might fall and injure themselves. Boilers also need repairs and we understandarrange- ments have, been made to take care of these repairs during the ' present Summer. JANIITOR SERVICE Your Committee were astonished and shocked at tIL8 con- dition in which they found this building where so many of our children attend , and the entire building from top to bottom shows that it has not had proper, attention from those people in charge of the janitor service . Toilets are very unclean and it might be a good idea for the Principal of the School to visit this room occasionally as there appears to be an absolute lack of discipline amongst the pupils in the use of these rooms . It occurs t o y our ` — Committee on looking over the Teachers ' rest room and also some of their private rooms that ,they mi?ht show a better example to their pupils in respect to cleanliness and the r..rouer care of school • j Mr. W., I?. P. 73/23. (2) property . 1 In conclusion, your, Committee does not feel that it was part of their duty to suggest any remedy as they were instructed to report conditions as they found them, and w have tried to do so as far as words would permit, but it seems to us that where the health and education of so man children are concerned, janitors should be appointed more in accordance with their ability and willingness to work than with the idea of obtaining someone at low wages to d what we consider important work very poorly . It also occurs to your Committee that someone i connection with our schools should take more intereet in the condition of our buildings and the cleanliness of the rooms, Regretting that it is necessary to make such a report, we sincerely hope that ways and means will be fou d to benefit the conditions we found to exist. Respectfully/ zOmitted, iK a s i